netdvn

^ You have a scanner? Also if you do plan on taking pics, using the flash would help to view the pics better. Facebook! deviantART Welcome to Facebook World Basically a work in progress shot of what Facebook would look like if it were an actual city. I've been working on this piece for months now (image was shrunk to meet TPR's size restrictions, but you can find a full version of it on my Facebook page and deviantART profile). Left to right.. - Fan pages - Applications - People complaining about Facebook - Small groups and fan pages - Top News - Pokes - An overview of Facebook Welcome to Facebook world!

Just saw Thor not long ago... Pretty solid movie! I'd say I enjoyed it. I heard some pretty good reviews about the movie and it pretty much met my expectations.

There's a reason why I know the parents are sneaking their kids on the ride. The key word is "try" to sneak their kids on the ride. I'm always standing in front of the line with a height stick to stop anyone under the height limit. Here kids between 42 in. and 48 in. are required to ride with parents, but over 48, can ride by themselves. Of course the 48 inch kids might have trouble pushing the pedal so you have to watch for that (that's what I do when I walk around the track). As for the rain, the rides stay open in rain unless there's a thunderstorm and/or damaging winds. I remember operating rides while it was pouring straight through.

No head-on bumping in bumper cars? What's this world coming to? Next CF's gonna say No screaming on roller coasters. I guess I'm giving CF too much credit since this is the same company that doesn't operate their rides in a single drop of rain. When I do seatbelt checks on bumper cars and I see someone that might be too short for the ride, I ask them to reach down to the pedal and push it. If they can, they're good to go. If not, I ask them to ride with their parents. I had a problem with this twice earlier in the season so I decided this was the best way to take care of it. Generally speaking, if they're between a certain height requirement, they must ride with somebody else. -- I've actually only had to press my E-Stop button once for a kid that fell out of his bumper car. Most of the other times, I'll manually stop the ride and call the person out over the microphone (generally this is for the unfortunate people that got broken cars and think it's okay to stand up and walk out onto an electrified track filled with 20 or so moving cars). For operating swings, I have to deal with swingers and people who twist in their seats as well as the people that think it's fun to form chains. I call them out before the ride starts (I actually had a run in with someone who thought it would be cool to swing back and forth... not pretty) and they comply. People who kick their shoes off are pretty annoying as well. And then there's the parents that try to ride the kiddie rides with their kids thinking they can actually fit inside of a tiny airplane or bumper car. Then the genius parents that sneak their little kids that are clearly too short to ride, on the ride. And then proceed to bitch and moan about me not letting them on when they're clearly too short to ride. Then there's the middle schoolers... those guys are a hoot (most are level-headed, but the non-level headed ones are completely obnoxious). Luckily a lot more people follow the rules than you'd think.

^^ Doubt it considering SF is still on the cheap side when it comes to installing new rides. 2012 is still one of SF's anniversary years so chances are SFA will receive something, just not a B&M. I can definitely see SFA getting a new thrill based flat ride/possible ride rehab as the most likely option for 2012. In terms of new coasters, a new Eurofighter or Zac Spin seems like the most likely option.

My parents are planning a Toronto-Montreal-Northeast cities trip later this summer and I was planning on hitting CW on that trip. I'm wondering... - What are crowds gonna be like in mid - late July? - I'm planning on hitting the real big ticket stuff (Behemoth, Vortex, Windseeker, Sledgehammer, Shockwave, the top spin, Drop Zone, and maybe Sky Rider). Are there any other recommended rides that I should hit? - I've got plans to visit with at least one other TPR member. Anybody else wanna tag along? Thanks in advance

Having BGW literally walking distance from your house really spoils you. I've only gone to KD twice in my life (2003 and 2004). I've gone to BGW about 1000 times. If given the choice to spend the whole day, I'd visit KD in a heartbeat because I don't visit very often. If KD was my homepark my opinion would be different. Last time I went to the park, it was under Paramount control. The rides were great, but the theming/atmosphere felt ghetto and very carnival-like. Granted I could use Lake Charles and a nicer park with better atmosphere, but overall I had a great time and don't go to the park expecting Busch/Herschend-style theming. I'm pretty sure with the park rehab CF gave KD, the park isn't as ghetto this year and hopefully CF will invest a little more in making the midways/rides look nicer. On top of that, 305 alone looks like it's totally worth the occasional trip up to Doswell. BGW is an amazing looking park and we do have four (soon to be five again) top-notch coasters and a ton of shows, but there really isn't much to do outside the major rides. I could easily spend an hour in the park on a nice day and ride everything I wanna ride. All in all, you go to KD for rides/attractions. You go to BGW for shows and atmosphere. Both are great parks in their own right and I'd highly recommend visiting both regardless. Virginia's survived over 30 years with both parks in operation so I don't see what this debate is all about.

It's a new ride and there's bound to be problems in the ride system. Plus Busch had a little less than a month to get the ride on property, construct the ride, test it without riders/with dummies, set up the entire area so it looks nice, train the operators running the ride, test it with riders, (all while trying to fix any major problems the ride might have) THEN finally opening the ride to the public. I remember when Griffon opened, the ride broke down constantly. Couple that with long lines and 1 train operations and you've got 2+ hour long lines every weekend in May. My guess is that BGW is trying to minimize that for the first few weeks of operation.

I was kinda hoping that they could get all the kinks out before Memorial Day. Oh well! - Kinda makes me wish everything was done a bit sooner, but what do I know?

Here's my current record! I've gotta say I feel like I've accomplished something! NYANNYANNYANNYANNANANANANANANANANYANYANYNYANYAN

Glad you had a great time on the tour and sorry I had to miss out! Hit me up next time you're planning on heading out to the park, maybe I'll head over there.

TPR chats are for everything under the sun until it goes into Night Chat mode and the content is a little more X-rated. Anyway, I managed to get Raptured and ended up in heaven where there was a huge Rapture party. It was fun, but I told God I had to get back to work the next day. Naturally, the cool guy He was, I got sent back down to earth.

Homepark: BGW Favorite park: Magic Kingdom In a nutshell, no...

Don't worry about the end of the world being May 21st. It's already May 21st on the other side of the world.

I got a good look at Mach Tower at work today. All the decoration has been set up and the car is placed on the tower. Now they just need to add the catch car. The car is actually kinda small in person, but we'll wait and see! Testing should be underway this week if BGW wants to get the ride up in time for Memorial weekend. I saw the commercial as well... The surprises are definitely gonna be music and shaking seats at the top (because that's what the commercial told me ). The car may rotate, but I wasn't paying attention at that point. Looking forward to seeing TPR at the event! Just wear something TPR related so I can recognize you!

Still battle sprite of Reshiram from Pokemon Black/White. I was gonna to the animated sprite, but the file size was too big for TPR's size requirement and I couldn't find an alternative.

You sure the park didn't release the plans on purpose to create buzz? I'd say not to jump to conclusions yet. On top of that, pkdcoaster didn't leak the photos to the public. Someone at BGWFans with direct access to the park/JCC Planning commission leaked the documents. It's already too late to keep the project under wraps because it's been leaked online and anyone can save the pics on their hard drive/post it in other places. That sign with the ride's prototype name is still sitting in a public area next to the bumper car house. I'm really hoping they keep the name. As for that last sexy piece of concept art... AWWW HELL YEAH! This project is looking better and better with every piece of concept art released. And those trains definitely rival Texas Giant 2's new trains in terms of awesomeness.

While DCA was a blunder, from what I've seen, the park didn't do as well because there was a better, more charming theme park next door and it basically fell short of everyone's expectations. I disagree.... Plenty of theme parks in the country were based off of the state they were located in, but they succeeded (SFOT, SFOG, SFStL), plus you have KD (which had Virginia-themed rides), and both Great America parks which were themed after the different regions of America. To an extent, you can also throw in Dollywood and Silver Dollar City. Cars actually does have something to do with California. The fact that Route 66 goes through and ends in California and Route 66 is one of America's most famous roads makes Carsland a pretty good fit for the park (and Cars does take place around Route 66 or a Route 66-based road), despite being based off of a Pixar movie. Granted the movie takes place in Arizona (IIRC), the overall theme is still there. Little Mermaid and WOC are just there to draw the crowds back. Despite all the non-California themed attractions, the park still has elements of California (classic seaside piers, Hollywood studios, Route 66 and that huge desert between Arizona and Palm Springs, and mountains). I don't think Disney should completely abandon the California motif for yet another movie studio incarnation. - I'm totally going out on a limb by saying this.

Hey look! I did a quick Google search and found out what a gimble is! Dropping track hasn't been done by Zierer yet, so it counts as a world first. Pure marketing tactic... Just like how Europa Park advertised Blue Fire as a world first, Gardaland advertised xRaptor as a world first, and CP advertises everything as a world first. Technically Vekoma was the first to innovate that kind of track in the first place anyway. The dropping track really hasn't been confirmed yet so it's all still speculation plus the rest of the layout hasn't been leaked yet. For all we know, it could be a gimble. Mack and Vekoma are the same way. A lot of people connotate Mack with wild mice and water rides... Until they see Blue Fire. Vekomas are considered rough and painful, but look at Nor-Easter and it's new trains or Battlestar Galactica.

It kinda is... Both coasters are high-end family coasters with solid-looking layouts. The only difference is this coaster is gonna have world first elements and Cheetah Hunt doesn't (and they're built by different companies). On another note, I'm absolutely in love with the theming. I was kinda disappointed with Griffon's theming, but from the blueprints, it looks like some effort is being made to make this coaster look amazing. Now I just wanna see the finale and the official name. As long as they keep the signature 80 foot drop (or some resemblance of it) and give it a better name than Cheetah Hunt, Dragons Challenge, or Mach Tower, I'll definitely be a happy camper.

I was kinda expecting part of the ride to go onto DF"s old spot. Considering the fact that BGW is moving concerts to the Royal Palace Theater, it seems that the old concert area is being used less and less so it looks like Busch is probably gonna be using the old Festhaus Park for a future expansion (maybe a Project 2015 or something). Layout-wise I like it. Although I'd rather have a Blue Fire or an iSpeed, BGW definitely needs a transition coaster for families with kids too tall for Grover, but too short for LNM. As long as this ride is even close to BBW in quality, I'm all for it! - Looks like my family coaster prediction was right.

Mach Tower looks really cool up close! The ride pretty much dominates the Oktoberfest area and it's hard not to look up at the massive tower. Seeing the expressions on the people as they stand underneath the tower is also pretty funny. The ride still isn't complete yet so we'll just wait and see! The concept art actually shows a circular car, not a square car (at least it looks that way from the brochure). The park map also shows a round car. You must be talking about the catch car. The park map shows a blue/white filmstrip-style design for (what I think is) the catch car. Perhaps BGW decided to change the colors or the catch car was originally gonna be a yellow color. This is interesting. I kinda predicted a music/cool lighting package along with a rotating car. I'm not 100% sure how a gyro drop works, but I'm thinking there's a mechanism on the tower that causes the seats to rotate. (that might explain why the "brakes" go up around 70% of the tower). If you could post screenshots or the actual video, that would be really cool! Quick note on Mach Tower. 1) I''m personally not a big fan of the brakes taking up most of the tower. It looks like there's little pure freefall before the car hits the brakes. 2) The tower is looking good, but the concept art shows a white stripe going down the side to match Oktoberfest's colors. I'm kinda hoping this happens, but since the stripe wasn't painted on during manufacturing, this probably won't happen. I won't complain about this too much. 3) Hopefully they should be testing this week. Last I checked, it looked like they were putting the catch car on. Decorations are probably gonna be put into the tower this week. The park left a crack in the giant walls so you can take a quick peek inside. As for the new coaster.... I'm predicting this will be another major family ride (BBW/Cheetaka) and with Zierer in the mix, a pure vertical launch as one of the "world first elements" doesn't seem too far off! I won't jump to conclusions or set my expectations too high for now. Considering Wicked looks like a solid ride, I'm pretty excited for this addition regardless of manufacturer. You never really know... BGW has a LOT of area to work with (considering they've got the old DF spot and BBW's area) and the size of the building could be huge. 2011's been full of surprises so I'm expecting a few more to come out of BGW in coming years.

I don't know why but the obsessive use of "Like" buttons kinda bugs me. I kinda feel it would be a bit more appropriate to have the like buttons on top of each thread and maybe a Vote Up/Down function for the individual posts instead of a "Like" button for everything.

There's a huge chance that I'll be working that day so I'm definitely looking forward to meeting some new TPR members!

Why didn't you tell me about this trip earlier? I feel sad for being left in the dark But I'm glad you had a great time on your cruise and at SWO! Carnival cruises are pretty fun to do, although I can't compare them to RC cruises.